Waterville, Maine- AP — A Maine man who spent 20 years in prison for killing his mother is facing charges that he walked out of the viewing area of an adult video store wearing only sneakers and socks.
Waterville police say 40-year-old Scott L. Thompson of Waterville was detained on Sunday night after a clerk in the store called police.
Thompson was convicted in April 1991 of killing his 59-year-old mother Edith Thompson in 1989 when he was 17. He was released from prison in December 2008.
The Morning Sentinel says that when Thompson was arrested Sunday he was on probation for breaking into a Waterville adult bookstore in 2009 and groping a woman in a different store.
He’s being held without bail on the latest charges. He’s due in court Tuesday.
Maine – from www.onlinesentinel.com – District Attorney Evert Fowle said Tuesday he will keep Scott L. Thompson off the street for as long as possible.
That could mean three years in prison for the 40-year-old Waterville man who was arrested Sunday for indecent conduct at a local adult video store. A clerk at the First Amendment store on College Avenue said Thompson left the video viewing area of the store dressed only in his socks and sneakers.
An affidavit filed Tuesday in Augusta District Court said the clerk told police Thompson was masturbating.
Thompson is on probation for breaking into another adult bookstore in Waterville in 2009, and for groping a woman in the dressing room of a Waterville fashion store three months later.
Breaking probation with new criminal conduct could mean a return to prison, Fowle said.
“He got the maximum possible jail time on the unlawful sexual touching — he got 364 days in jail,” Fowle said of the 2009 groping. “He received an suspended sentence for the burglary and we are in a much better position now with what he did yesterday to have three years in prison hanging over his head.”
Thompson previously served 20 years in prison for stabbing his mother to death in East Winthrop. The murder happened in 1989 after Thompson, high on marijuana, watched pornographic movies.
“Part of the whole process here is maximizing the safety of the public,” Fowle said. “This guy’s a serious offender, he’s been in prison most of his life, we’d better get that one right. Right now he’s held without bail, he’s not going anywhere until the next hearing.”
Thompson made his initial appearance in court Tuesday on a charge of indecent conduct. Bail was set at $2,500 cash on that charge, which carries a sentence of six months in jail.
Because he is on probation, bail is not allowed, Fowle said. A bail hearing is set for next week, but a ruling will not be made until early October, he said.
In the meantime, Fowle said he will work with probation officer Jeff Furlong for possible full revocation of Thompson’s probation.
Fowle said the court can not mandate counseling or treatment during incarceration.
“It would be up to the prison to decide what counseling he got there,” he said. “It can’t be mandated by the court. We’re tried that in the past, to have the prison ordered to provide counseling or housing in a certain unit, and the Supreme Court of this state has said that’s a decision that the prison officials make.”
Thompson was convicted on April 2, 1991, in Kennebec County Superior Court in Augusta of murdering his mother, Edith Thompson, 59, in her East Winthrop mobile home on Jan. 30, 1989. He was released from prison Dec. 29, 2008, after serving about 20 years of a 30-year sentence.
In July 2009, seven months after his release from prison, Thompson broke into Treasure Chest II and stole novelty items. He assaulted the woman in a Waterville fashion store in October of that year.
He had been out of jail two months before his arrest on Sunday.